Self-regulating gravity discharge terminal



April 17, 1926. 1,666,758

J. J. STOETZEL I SELF REGULATING GRAVITY DISCHARGE TERMINAL Filed May23, 1924 M IN VEN TOR.

wlp ATTORNEY.

Patented Apr. 17, 1928.

UNITED T JOSEPH J. STOETZEL, or new YORK, NQYQ, ASSIGNOR T0 or." &

. A'oonroRA'rIon or'nnw YORK.

Ar ES PATENT. 1o FFICE,

G .A'JILAS sysrnmsino,

SELF-REGULATING GRAVITY DISCHARGE TERMINAL.

- Application filed May '23,

mentum is not checked, cushioned, retarded,

or otherwise guarded aga1nst,;the carrier is apt to strike the outletdoor with undesir-. able force,,resulting at times in injury to thecarrier, to the door, or other object, and, at all events, causing toomuch noise, inzits'de- :livery. g 1

7 On the other hand, when the discharge door opens, either by pressureoftheradvan ing air aheadof the carrier, orbyv theaot of the carrier instriking thesaine atmosplieric air at once rushesin and this inrush is.apt to thrust the carrier backward and thus delayits discharge or evenpocket the, carrier. iIn such case the carrierhas to be manuallyremoved, To overcome all these. difficulties is the general object of myinvention., I The specific means which I' consider the best to,accomplish this object are shown in. the accompanying drawing, in whichI have not found itnecessary to :illustrate any-part of the pneumaticdespatch tube systein,- itself, except the, outlet terminal section," asthe general construction" of such systems is now pretty well understoodbythose famil-v iar with the art. ,7 The discharge terminal sectionshown con sists primarily of the exhaust tubelA, forining'an H, bycross-tube-B, and having a casv ing,C,-and a discharge tube D, equippedwith a self closing doorE." U

Theexhaust tube A, may be of "the usual type, connected, above, with theusu'al tran sit system-by which carriersare,driven'by air-pressure(usually atinosphericifrom the cashiers station to the various salesmansstations,and back againduring the opera-r tion ofthe system,aiidconnected, below, i with an exhauster, of any suitable character,governedias to its speed by a suitable governor, in response todifierences in the air: pressure within the transit system. Thedirection of flow of air through said tubeis shown 'by'arrows- Some fiowin this direction is always maintained when the ex-- 1924. Serial in.715,300.

hauster is working but the quantity and pressurefof the flow variesaccording to the requirements of tlie system.

The terminal door E, is preferably of light material and easily;deflected by the pressure exerted upon the air in terminal tube D, whensaidcarrier has passed down' wardly below thecross-tube B. To this end Ipreferto make the d0or E, overbalai ced by thecounterweight.F-,-andpivoted as at a, on abracketmounted on the outside of f easing C, insuch, manner thatthe'dow i- .ward pullof this counterweight F, tends atall times to keep said door E uponi s seat and to return the same to itsseat whenever ,displaced,.that is, opened or partly'so,

inlthe direction of the curved arrow-line, i l

' The discharge tube D, preferably passes through the casing C, asSl10Wn,fb11t"liaS no communication with the interior of said cas-* ingexcept by means of the cross tube B, and;

exhaust. tube 1A.,

,. The casing C, hasa port G, by which at mospheric air, may be admittedto said caswhen occasion requires, and thence to the: exhaust tube A,both above and below- 1 casing.= This portG, is normally closed by thedoor E,;,but is instantly responsive ,to-

any opening, however slight, of said. door. ,The operation :of ,my,improved discharge terminal as appliedto an open current or vacuumsystem of pneumatic despatch tubes is as follows 1 When no carrier is nline, the entire system, is idleexcept for afslight flow of air inresponse to a continued runningoi the exhauster at minimumsp'eed,Thisislightl flow of air is at atmospheric pressure, and. permeatestheentire terminal shown. That portion of the air, which 'fills'the tubeVD, may be regarded as static, under these conditions, i I j, I

Upon"the insertion of a carrier in the sys-, tem atwhatever point abovethe section ex; haust tube shown in the drawing, the system becomestemporarily elosed againstthe atmospherebetween the pointer saidinsertion and, the exhauster.v Itwill, of course, be understood that asuitable air-controlvalveis located somewhere in theexhausttube A, belowthe circle marked iV,. and above the exhauster. This cont'rol'valve, it

'which moves in the directionflofthe arrows t I properly constructed,will at once, open; upon enough to permit the exhauster to speed up andexhaust the air ahead of said carrier to the predetermined rarefication,usually expressed as one pound of vacuum.

In instant response to this action on the part of the exhauster, theatmospheric air behind the inserted carrier will begin to push thecarrier toward its destination at a speed of approximately twenty-fivefeet per second. This movement of the carrier will push all the rarefiedair before it toward the terminal shown in the drawing, (and thence tothe exhauster) at its own speed of travel. The direction of flow throughthe exhaust tube will, as before stated, he in the direction of thearrows, that is through cross tube B, casing C, to the exhauster. Theair in tube D will still be static but rarefied to the same degree asthat in the exhaust tube A.

V This condition will continue until the carrier has reached themouth ofthe cross-tube B. The momentum of the carrier will be suflicient tocarry it past the mouth of the cross tube and the carrier will,therefore, compress the static air intube D until the pressure becomesgreat enough to open the discharge door E. When thistalzes placethecarrier will pass, by its own gravity, quietly out of the tube D andfall into any receptacle which may be awaiting the carrier,

. below.

Meanwhile, as soon as the carrier passes the mouth of the cross-tube B,the full rush of atmospheric air. which was behind the carrier anddriving it forward, will become free to pass directly through tube B,casing C, and the rest of exhaust tube A to the ex hauster. Unless thereis another carrier in line followlng the first carrier. In such case,

of course, the atmospheric air between the two carriers will be speedilyexhausted and,

only to prevent any back-draft upon car-- rier in tube D, but to hastenthe exit of said carrier by the door E, if necessary.

Another function of the port G, is to quicken the action of thecontrol-valve located between the casing C, and the exhauster. This itdoes by supplying free air to the exhaust tube nearer the exhauster thanthe cross-tube B, and thus cutting down the speed of the exhaustersooner than would be the case if the control-valve depended for itsaction solely upon air coming from the bell-mouth through the entirelength of tubing. V

Where there is more than one carrier in transit, the admission of airthrough port G,

by opening door E, tends to prevent the following carriers from tooviolent an increase of speed upon the discharge of a preceding carrier.7

As soon as the last carrier in line has passed out of line at thedischarge terminal,

matic dispatch systems, a transit tube, an-

exhaust tube having its receiving end portion mounted in adjacent andparallel relation to the delivery end portion of the transit tube, across-tube connectionbetween the end of the exhaust tube and a. point inthe transit tube spaced from the end thereof, a gate hinged to thedelivery end of the transit tube, a hinged connection of the gate withc.

the tube. being located at the edge of' the transit tube remote from theexhaust tube, the hinged end of "the gate being. extended and providedwith a. weight normally tending to close the gate, said exhaust tubebeing provided with an air inlet port adjacent the delivery end of thetransit tube, said gatemember being extended at its free end to closethe inlet port'in the exhaust tube when:

in closing relation to the end of the transit tube. r

2. In a carrier delivery device for pneumatic dispatch systems, atransit tube, an exhaust tube having its receiving end portion mountedin adjacent and parallel relation to the delivery end of the transittube,

a cross-tube connection between the end of the exhaust tube and a pointin the transit tube spaced from the end thereof, a hinged gate attachedto the terminal edge of the transit tube remote from the exhaust tube,said gate occupying an inclined position and provided with a weight formoving the gate to closed position, the terminal end of the transit tubebeing wholly closedat the gate whereby no communication is providedbetween the delivery end of the transit tube and the exhaust tube, saidexhaust tube being provided with an air inletport adjacent the deliveryend of the transit tube, said hinged gatelhaving an extension arrangedto close the inlet port when the hinged gate is in closing relation tothe delivery end of the transit tube.

JOSEPH J. STOETZEL.

